When Wendy Geller's body is found in Central Park after the night of a rager, newspaper headlines scream,"Death in the Park: Party Girl Found Strangled." But shy Rain, once Wendy's best friend, knows there was more to Wendy than just "party girl."

As she struggles to separate the friend she knew from the tangle of gossip and headlines, Rain becomes determined to discover the truth about the murder.

The Girl in the Park was not an overly complex story, but the mystery was not easily predictable for me and managed to keep me guessing as it unfolded. My assumptions for who Wendy's killer was, were proved very wrong.

The beginning was pretty slow. It took a few chapters to really get into what the story was actually about and start delving into the mystery. There was just way too much backstory right at the start. It did eventually pick up a few chapters in a got really into the mystery around the middle of the book. Towards the end, I found my heart racing as the truth is revealed and I was anxious to see how things panned out. That being said, I was expecting a much more dramatic scene when the killer is confronted.

Rain was a very unique and interesting main character. She has a cleft pallet and as a result is understandable shy and insecure. She avoided a of human interaction with her judgmental and teasing peers. There is some character development as the story progresses. She is very determined and starts coming out of her shell and standing up for her deceased friend.

All of the characters were very believable and pretty well drawn out, but unfortunately I felt very disconnected from them all, and even Rain.